Chapter 378 Volume VI – Chapter 11: In Five Days

*(A/N: You guys know that I had to spend a few days in the hospital because of an illness a week ago. Then I was discharged, I spent one day well… and then it seems that they couldn’t cure the thing because I had to spend almost five days in the hospital last week. Well, it wouldn’t be a lie if I told you that I was quite literally dying… so I spent two days resting. And now, hopefully, I’m back… Alive, once again hopefully. I have nothing more to say, I’m sorry.)*

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“Don’t you drink tea?”

“With pleasure.”

I reached for the cup on the table, gently lifted the one on my side, and took a small sip.

It was quite good… unexpectedly so.

“Is there anything else I can get you?”

I put a small smile on my face and shook my head slightly.”

“No, tea is enough.”

So the person sitting across from me, a pretty girl with dark purple hair and pink eyes, smiled back.

“When I was little, I always wanted to meet one of the heroes of fairy tales. Who would have thought that my dream would come true years later?”

“Oh, please… there is a big difference between me and the heroes of fairy tales.”

I lowered my tea slightly, looking him straight in the eye.

“You, to me, are a bigger hero than I am… aren’t you? Maeve Bistra, the genius who brought the kingdom back from the brink of collapse when she was only five years old. That’s what they said on the news.”

Maeve’s smile widened.

“It’s overrated, something most people have already forgotten. All I did was see a loophole in a contract. And you… You accomplished something much bigger.”

I narrowed my eyes slightly, keeping my smile as I leaned back in my chair.

“Is that why you’re trying to get to me?”

Maeve paused for a moment, looking slightly disappointed.

“Get you? An interesting phrase, but of course not… I’m only making an offer.”

She leaned back in her chair, as did I.

“Things are complicated at the academy, Aiden. Ah, you don’t mind if I address you directly by your name… do you?”

I shook my head from side to side, and she continued.

“At the academy, there are three major powerhouses among the students. The three groups that Cassandra Bealy, Jack Laehera, and I lead.”

She held up a finger, pointing at me.

“And you are one of the biggest pieces that could tip the balance between these three groups. You are the piece standing in front of Adrian Caleo and Lucia Quie.”

Her eyes narrowed even more, her smile slowly giving way to a serious expression.

“Cassandra and Jack will do everything they can to get you three under their thumb. They will try to stop you from joining the others, they will put stones in your path… if necessary.”

I tilted my head slightly to the side.

“And you? Don’t you want us?”

Maeve was silent for a moment, her eyes leaving me. And then…

“I do, but I know my limitations.”

“Oh?”

I couldn’t help raising my eyebrows, this was… not what I expected to hear. Maeve continued as if she understood my surprise.

“You guys are powerful. Extremely so. There have been few or no people your age who have stood where you are now. If the three of you were evenly distributed among the three groups, that would be the best scenario. But… you three are not going to do that.”

“Because we’re friends, we’ll follow each other… you say?”

Maeve stared at me again.

“No. Because they will do whatever you say.”

She picked up her cup from the table and took a single sip.

“I’ve done my research, Aiden. That study group of yours, everyone who belongs to it will most likely follow you. And big names like Adrian, Lucia, Julian, and Celine are all in this group. Maybe you started this group purely for this moment, I don’t know, but…”

She paused again, as if she wanted to prepare herself… but quickly continued.

“I can see what you’re trying to do. You want to create the fourth largest group in the academy, right?”

I didn’t react, I didn’t look surprised or smile, I just… spoke calmly.

“And you, what are you going to do?”

“Unlike Jack and Cassandra, I will help you rather than oppose you… rather than try to stop you from growing.”

“So you’re offering an alliance to a group that doesn’t even exist yet.”

Maeve shook her head.

“The third and fourth years have already been placed in specific groups, and the idle ones have no intention of playing the games at the academy. So without someone to help you, you’re going to have problems.”

“So… Is that all you can offer me?”

Maeve paused for a moment. Her eyebrows raised slightly as she looked at me with a blank expression.

“What do you mean?”

“All you can offer me is a couple of third and fourth-year students?”

Maeve’s raised eyebrows suddenly furrowed.

“You’re misjudging the situation. You can’t stand up to Jack and Cassandra with just a few people, no matter how powerful they are.”

“A few people…?”

I slowly rose from my seat, placed the finished tea on the table, and clasped my hands together.

“All the second years. I’m going to have them all under me. Who says I will only have a few people on my side?”

Maeve sighed.

She didn’t look surprised. She… actually looked disappointed.

“Jack, Cassandra, and I already have plenty of second-year students coming to our group. You’re being ridiculous, Aiden.”

“But will they come?”

I continued quickly, not bothering to pay attention to Maeve’s reaction.

“Five days, Maeve. In five days, all the second years will stop what they’re doing and rush blindly to get under me.”

Grabbing my cane, I slowly stood up and headed for the door.

“Just watch and see.”

Halfway through, I slowed my pace, turned my head slightly back, and glanced briefly at Maeve, who was sitting as she was in her chair, staring at me.

“If I can’t… I’ll bring Adrian and Lucia into your group, along with myself. But if I can, you’ll be part of the group I’ll form directly, rather than in alliance with me. Not directly under me, don’t worry… but more than just an alliance. For both of us.”

Maeve didn’t say anything as I walked out, not waiting to hear her answer.

I don’t care what she chooses to do. Friend, foe… it doesn’t matter.

If she stands in my way, I’ll crush her like I would any other.

And if she stands by my side… I know how to help her in the appropriate way.

*******

I couldn’t help sighing as I looked at the training building, my main goal for the day. Jack and Cassandra hadn’t made their move yet, but they would soon.

Who knows, maybe they had already contacted others besides me. But I wasn’t late, I still had time.

Tomorrow, I would make my first move.

And now… I had another matter to take care of first.

And so, I entered the building that stood in front of me. I made my way to the room I had been going to for quite a long time, I entered calmly.

The usual large room greeted me, then… as usual, a tall figure waiting for me in the center of the room.

I closed the door gently and approached this figure slowly with my cane. When I was in front of him, I paused, staring into his dark eyes that were locked on me.

“Hi there.”

His voice was flat, calm, and… cold in a way I hadn’t expected from him. Unlike all the time I’d spent with him, as if I were someone he didn’t know.

“Hi… Professor Calvin.”

Professor Calvin spoke without taking his eyes off me for a moment.

“You lied.”

“Yes.”

“Then… answer me. Who are you?”

Yes, maybe he was being cold… but there was a glimmer of hope in his eyes. A light that he could barely hold in, one that could easily disappear without a trace.

The reason was quite simple.

Someone who became a wiera would not be who they originally were. As their body changed to adapt a little to the caora, other things changed too… their personality, their self, their memories.

A new person with memories of the person they used to be. Someone who feels, even knows, that they are the same person… but is just as aware that they are different. A shadow of their humanity that they left behind after becoming a wiera.

“I’m not a reflection of who I was, professor. Because I’m not a full wiera. And you know it, you believe it. Isn’t that why you’re here?”

He wasn’t supposed to be here, actually. As a Guardian of the Order, he shouldn’t have revealed to me that he knew such things about wieras and caora, probably shouldn’t have even approached me until he considered me trustworthy.

But here he was, in front of me. Because… he knew that I had lied at the ceremony, that I had in fact been a wiera for a long time. And… he wanted to see if he had been deceived.

To not make the same mistake he’d made in the past. To not be used again.

Because he was afraid.

“I’m half wiera, as hard as it is to believe, and that’s why only half of my body and consciousness are split. And… yes, I lied, I was like that from the beginning.”

The professor looked into my eyes, waited for a moment. Then… he could only sigh.

“I see…”

He took an even deeper breath. He looked into my eyes again, this time a little more… relaxed.

“Congratulations, then. For the war, for your nobility, for your new rank…”

He turned away, preparing to leave.

I… simply smiled before saying anything.

“I told you, didn’t I?”

The professor looked at me with a slight turn of his head, as if he didn’t quite understand what I was saying.

“That my goal was to get out of the academy first.”

The professor paused, his eyes unfocused, as if he was trying to remember the first time I said that sentence.

“That was my goal for the first year. For the second year…”

I widened my smile and spoke in a confident tone.

“To be the one at the head of everything. That’s my goal. So…”

I bowed my head slightly, kept my eyes on the floor, but kept my smile.

“Even if I’m not sure what you will do next, thank you for teaching me the basics of fighting, of using a sword… for helping me achieve my goals, for being my instructor.”

The professor did not react. He slowly turned away, my eyes still on the floor, my head bowed.

He said only one thing as he left the room.

“You’re… welcome.”

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